Alan Pardew is already starting to plan for the possibility of relegation and indicated that Darren Bent is likely to leave if Charlton lose their battle for Premier- ship survival.

Bent has scored 15 goals this season but the Charlton manager accepts that the rebuilding process might have to be done without the club's sought-after forward.

Asked if it was inevitable that Bent would leave if Charlton were relegated, Pardew said: "In terms of top players that's been the history of coming out of the Premiership. I was in a situation at West Ham where they tried to hang on to Jermain Defoe and that didn't work out.

"The one thing I know about the Championship is that you need a strong spirit and if you don't have that, you won't come up. Birmingham and Sunderland have managed to cull their squad and keep the players that have that spirit."

Pardew feels wins against Tottenham on Monday and Liverpool on the final day of the season would be enough to stay up. But in a sign that the manager sees his long-term future with Charlton, he is adamant relegation could be a "blessing" and that the club would regroup. "You shouldn't fear it [relegation]," he said. "It's not the end of the world if we go down."

Dominic Marrocco, a Las Vegas-based millionaire from Leeds, has said he is considering investing in financially troubled Leeds United. "I'm seriously looking at it but you need to know what you are actually investing in," he said.